Snowmobile ski

ABSTRACT

The edges of a snowmobile ski are curved laterally downwardly near the leading tip to deflect snow away from the occupants of the vehicle when it is in motion.

llntteell tntee tent 11 1 1111 3,871,675

Land Mat. 18, I975 SNOWMOBILE SKI 3,675,939 7/1972 Vik 280/28 7 [7 n entor J me E- Lund hie er Falls, 3,734,523 5/1973 Flelcl -80/l6 Mlnn. FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [73] Assignee: Arctic Enterprises, Inc. Thief River 94,024 6/1969 France 280/16 Falls, Minn.

22 Filed; Jam 5 1973 Primary Examiner-David Schonberg Assistant ExaminerMichael J. Forman [2]] Appl' 321,120 Attorney, Agent, or Firn1Molinare, Allcgretti, Newitt & Witcoff [52] US. Cl. 280/28, 9/310 R 5 l] Int. Cl. B62111 27/02 58 Field 61s66rc11 280/28, 15, 16, 17; [57] ABSTRACT 180/5 R The edges of a snowmobile ski are curved laterally downwardly near the leading tip to deflect snow away References cued from the occupants of the vehicle when it is in motion.

UNITED STATES PATENTS I 3,643,978 2/1972 Westberg 280/28 7 Clams 8 Drawmg F'gures PM'ENTEB HAM 8 IUFS SNOWMOBILE SKI BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a ski for a snowmobile and particularly to a ski having means to deflect snow away from the driver of the vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The spraying of snow backwardly over the hood of a snowmobile onto the driver and passenger has long been a safety and comfort problem in snowmobiling, especially as the vehicle traverses terrain at high speeds. It has been found that the existing typical prior art snowmobile ski contributes greatly to this problem. Such ski generally has an elongated body with an upwardly curved forward portion and outer edges extend ing laterally in substantially a straight line along the entire length thereof, including the upwardly curved forward portion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above problem is overcome by curving a portion or the upwardly curved portion of the ski laterally downwardly. A ski having this shape deflects snow downwardly and to the sides, thus eliminating or substantially reducing the amount of snow sprayed onto the driver and passenger, depending on speed of the vehicle and snow conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a top plan view of a snowmobile ski embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the forward portion of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of an alternate ski construction embodying the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 77 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The drawings show a snowmobile ski generally designated by the numeral 10, a pair of which are typically attached in parallel spaced-apart relationship at the front end of a snowmobile (not shown) by any one of a number of means well known in the art, although some snowmobiles employ a single ski.

The ski 10 has an elongated body 12 with an upwardly curved forward portion 14 terminating in a leading tip 16, a central portion 18 and edge portions 20 and 22 respectfully extending laterally outwardly from the central portion 18. In the basic ski construction shown in FIGS. I through 5, this central portion is in the form of a longitudinal depressed channel which is commonly formed in snowmobile skis to prevent sideward sliding when the vehicle is in motion, expecially when cornering. As will be apparent, the invention is applicable to other basic ski configurations, for example, a flat ski as shown in FIGs. 6 through 8.

In accordance with the invention the edge portions 20 and 22 are curved downwardly at the front of the ski 16 to form an arcuate portion 24 in transverse cross section as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

While the invention is not limited thereto, the follow ing example describes a specific form that has achieved excellent results. The arcuate portion 24 extends from a point near the midpoint on the arc defining the upwardly curved forward portion 14' of the ski 10 to the leading tip I6. The radius of curvature of the arcuate portion 24 increases from zero at the midpoint to ap proximately 2 inches at the tip 16 on a ski approxi mately 6 /2 inches wide and 46 inches long. Obviously the radius of curvature could vary depending on the width of the ski.

FIGS. 6 through 8 show the invention in a flat ski.

The invention and many of its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form and construction thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing its material advantages, the form described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. A snowmobile ski configured to reduce or elimi nate the spraying of snow backwards onto occupants of a snowmobile and comprising an elongated body having a generally straight portion for riding upon the snow, an upwardly curved forward portion terminating in a leading tip, and opposed transversely extending longitudinal edges, the transverse edges solely on the upwardly curved forward portion of the ski having portions depending laterally downwardly near said leading tip to deflect snow away from occupants of said snowmobile when said snowmobile is in motion.

2. The ski as defined by claim I wherein said downwardly depending portions are arcuate in transverse cross section.

3. The ski as defined by claim 2 wherein said arcuate portion extends from said tip of said ski to a point approximately on the midpoint on the arc defining said upwardly curved forward portion.

4. The ski as defined by claim 3 wherein the radius of curvature of said arcuate portion increases from zero at said midpoint to 3 inches at said tip.

5. The ski as defined by claim 2 wherein said ski in cludes a central portion defining a longitudinal channel and each of said edge portions includes a said arcuate portion.

6. A snowmobile ski configured to reduce or eliminate the spraying of snow from the ski backwards onto occupants of a snowmobile and comprising an elongated ski body having an upwardly curved forward portion terminating in a leading tip, and opposed, transverse longitudinal edges arcuately curved transversely downwardly and outwardly to present generally concave surfaces to the snow, the arcuately curved longitudinal edges extending substantially to the leading tip of the ski, whereby snow contacted by the concave surfaces is deflected away from occupants of the snowmobile.

7. A snowmobile ski configured to reduce or eliminate the spraying of snow backwards onto occupants of a snowmobile and comprising a single, generally flat, unitary, elongated body having a generally U-shaped depression along its length and centrally of its width defining an elongated channel with longitudinal edges of the elongated body extending laterally outwardly from the channel, the elongated body having an upwardly curved forward portion terminating in a leading tip, the longitudinal edges of the elongated body only in the upto present generally concave edge undersurfaces to the snow, whereby snow contacted by said edge undersurfaces is deflected away from occupants of a snowmowardly curved forward portion curving arcuately out- 5 bile when the latter is in motionwardly and downwardly adjacent the leading tip so as 

1. A snowmobile ski configured to reduce or eliminate the spraying of snow backwards onto occupants of a snowmobile and comprising an elongated body having a generally straight portion for riding upon the snow, an upwardly curved forward portion terminating in a leading tip, and opposed transversely extending longitudinal edges, the transverse edges solely on the upwardly curved forward portion of the ski having portions depending laterally downwardly near said leading tip to deflect snow away from occupants of said snowmobile when said snowmobile is in motion.
 2. The ski as defined by claim 1 wherein said downwardly depending portions are arcuate in transverse cross section.
 3. The ski as defined by claim 2 wherein said arcuate portion extends from said tip of said ski to a point approximately on the midpoint on the arc defining said upwardly curved forward portion.
 4. The ski as defined by claim 3 wherein the radius of curvature of said arcuate portion increases from zero at said midpoint to 3 inches at said tip.
 5. The ski as defined by claim 2 wherein said ski includes a central portion defining a longitudinal channel and each of said edge portions includes a said arcuate portion.
 6. A snowmobile ski configured to reduce or eliminate the spraying of snow from the ski backwards onto occupants of a snowmobile and comprising an elongated ski body having an upwardly curved forward portion terminating in a leading tip, and opposed, transverse longitudinal edges arcuately curved transversely downwardly and outwardly to present generally concave surfaces to the snow, the arcuately curved longitudinal edges extending substantially to the leading tip of the ski, whereby snow contacted by the concave surfaces is deflected away from occupants of the snowmobile.
 7. A snowmobile ski configured to reduce or eliminate the spraying of snow backwards onto occupants of a snowmobile and comprising a single, generally flat, unitary, elongated body having a generally U-shaped depression along its length and centrally of its width defining an elongated channel with longitudinal edges of the elongated body extending laterally outwardly from the channel, the elongated body having an upwardly curved forward portion terminating in a leading tip, the longitudinal edges of the elongated body only in the upwardly curved forward portion curving arcuately outwardly and downwardly adjacent the leading tip so as to present generally concave edge undersurfaces to the snow, whereby snow contacted by said edge undersurfaces is deflected away from occupants of a snowmobile when the latter is in motion. 